Monthly Archives: June 2022

2022, Uncategorized

First Snorkel!

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After naturally waking up to birds and sun, we got our snorkeling stuff ready for our first trip on the water. Right on the dock, I was struck by the number of fish I could see! There were large fish in close proximity to one another with their fins out of the water, and their was an enormous school of small minor sized fish everywhere! When I got in the water I felt like the whale shark in the aquarium with all the sardines parting around it.

In the reef, we found astounding and dynamic “patch reefs” or structures of chorals, sponges, fish, etc, among the sea of seagrass in the lagoon of the atoll. I was struck by the 3-dimensional variety of shapes and sizes of organisms! Some highlights included seeing a lion fish and a small barracuda.

Dr. Correa also helped me pick a green algae from among the sea grass. I had seen the type of algae she picked but had been initially confused as I thought they were fuzzy spheres on sticks like lollipops. However, they were actually Bristle ball brush algae with rounded tops, a genus called Penicillus I did have on my taxonomic card when we got back! I was able to use the guidebook in the station to identify it as Penicillus Dumetosus mainly through the shape of the top which was much longer than wide and flat on top.

I also saw lots of Halimeda green algae mostly on top of the patch reefs characterized by long chains of roundish segments. Again using the guide books I think it was Halimida goreari as the segments seemed to match the shape and size description best of flattened 2.5-6mm wide segments.

After that we also did a scavenger hunt to practice being in the water with clipboards and cameras in another part of the atoll that was much shallower and sandier. I saw some green algae that appeared to a type of Caulerpa (sea grapes) and Udotea (Mermaid’s fan), but I plan to look at the pictures more closely to get the exact species tomorrow!

2022

What Lies Beyond the Mangroves of Death??? (Day 2)

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Hi all, it’s Faith with Day 2 updates from the Belize trip!!!

Today we woke up and hit the ground running. We had delicious banana pancakes that reminded me of the ones I make back home, and then some Black Iguanas, Ctenosaura similis, watched us prep for out first snorkel.

For our first snorkel, we saw lots of patch reefs, soft corals, hard corals, and many reef fish. From this dive, my favorite thing was the Christmas tree worms that we found burrowed in brain coral. We had lots of fun watching them pop in and out of their burrows. Our dive safety expert, Ruth, also let us hold a Queen Conch Snail!!! Some other interesting finds were pufferfish, a corallamorph, a yellow stingray, and lionfish. I was disappointed that I didn’t see my taxa, but that disappointment dissipated when we started our next activity– quadrats.

What is a quadrat you ask? Well, it is a “handy tool you can use for many things.” I’m not actually sure what it does yet, but it is a square PBC pipe tool with a grid-square net inside. And you’ve got to “belieze” the hype that comes with constructing your own quadrat. It truly makes you a marine biologist.

After lunch, we grabbed our clipboards and “willingly”  (100% not persuaded by the kids) voted to go into the M.O.D.  With our clipboards and fins in hand, all 18 of us RAN through seemingly endless mangroves with swarms and swarms and swarms of mosquitos to our watery safehaven. I got lucky and made it through with maybe 10 or so bites, but many have it much, much worse.

But the buggy adventure was worth it. My partner Maegan and I  attempted to complete the scavenger hunt on our clipboards, but we got sidetracked searching for our taxa. Again, I was distraught over the lack of echinoderms until I saw a broken sea biscuit (Genus Clypeasteroida). I knew that if their were empty sea urchin skeletons, then there were live ones somewhere nearby! I ended up seeing two live Sea biscuits, but many more calcite skeletons… (there were rumors of brittle stars and donkey dung sea cucumbers but I didn’t see them). The sea biscuits were not doing too much, they were sitting on their own or under coral.

Then the time came for us to stop swimming around the reef and run through the mangroves (or so we thought). In reality, we ended up snorkeling back to the wet lab. Our dive back featured another stingray, a nurse shark, and fire sponges growing in the seagrass beds. I also found a plastic bottle with a crab inside! (Don’t worry, I recycled the bottle).

No lizards to report today except for a brown anole Anolis sagrei  and of course the previously mentioned iguanas!!! Til’ tomorrow!!!

Quote(s) of the day:

“Vote mangroves and we won’t send the crabs into your rooms tonight”

*Pointing at a dead Sea Biscuit* “It’s a fossilized sea star!!!”

Nurse shark just chillin’
Meeee with a conch!
Maegan and I with our quadrat
Yellow stingray in the seabed
The Sea biscut we saw in the sand!

 

2022

Day 2: Snorkeling and the MOD

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After a good nights rest, we rose early in the morning to start off our day snorkeling at Glover’s Reef! We had all our gear and were ready to start our first snorkeling adventure by 8:05 am which was a record breaking time according to our professors. I was amazed by the biodiversity of marine life on our snorkel! I recorded hard corals, soft corals, damsel fish, puffer fish, parrot fish, lion fish, lobster, and many more interesting species! Nyala and Caio pointed out my first annelid- Christmas tree worms! These worms bore into coral and have a spiral-shaped crown that are always seen in pairs of two (even though it is actually one worm). They can come in all shapes and colors and will retract back into the coral as if they were never present if they sense water movement of a big fish or larger creature, like us. (sorry for the poor camera quality!)

Hydrozoa are hard to locate on the reef but I spotted some fire coral today! Fire coral is an interesting creature because it is an athecate hydroid that behaves like a reef-building coral.

We also built quadrates which is a tool used by field biologists to help us measure and collect data!

Later for our second snorkel of the day we were given two choices- the safe choice of the adventurous choice. The safe choice was to snorkel in the reef we had just been at while the adventurous choice required us to walk through the MOD… Mangroves of Death that had swarms of mosquitos that would bite you even as you were running. We of course chose the adventurous path, and the misquotes were terrible but the marine organisms we saw at this next location made it worth it. We saw many fish as well as a nerf shark and sting ray. I also got the chance to observe two more annelid species. The magnificent feather duster worm was a multicolored worm (red and white) with large feather-like bristles shaped like- you guessed it- a feather duster. This worm will also retreat into the coral if there is water movement. I think I also spotted a spaghetti worm’s long white, thin tentacles under the coral, but it was difficult to tell.

Afterwards we listened to some presentations that helped us learn more about different reef creatures and reflect on the journey ahead. More to come! 😉

~Maegan 

2022

First Reef Day <3

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The McKenna that is writing this post is a completely different person than the McKenna that wrote the previous blogs. Today, I saw coral reefs with my very own eyes, and it was such a life-changing experience!

The day started early with breakfast at 7:00 am. We wasted no time getting into the water, and we swam to path reefs close by the Glover’s dock. I was surprised by how much sediments can make snorkeling an issue; one kick downward with your fin and all of the scenery around you is made barely visible. Needless to say, I quickly learned to stay on my stomach. At the patch reefs, I saw so many amazing things, notably a baby lionfish and a pufferfish. On the way back, I saw a Great Caribbean anemone in a bed of seagrass! (Please forgive that this is a photo taken of a digital picture)

After getting back, we made reef supplies for future endeavors, including an expertly-woven quadrant and a top-of-the-line snorkel clipboard with waterproof paper!

After lunch, we suited back up and sprinted (I’m not kidding, we actually sprinted there to avoid the swarm of mosquitos) to explore the mangrove of death (oooo aaahh). We brought our clipboards with us to do a scavenger hunt! Liliana and I were buddies, and we found lots of cool things, like a sea cucumber and a Christmas tree worm. We decided to swim back because the mosquitos were that bad, and that is when I spotted a warty corallimorph! This is usually a solitary organism, so it was all by itself. (Again, photo of a photo)

The mangrove snorkel was amazing! Afterward, we ate dinner and gave presentations.

Today was incredible. I am so excited for the upcoming reef days to explore more! Another night of needed rest awaits me. A TFB always needs their beauty sleep 🙂

– McKenna

2022

Beware the Mangroves of Death

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Today was the first snorkeling day!

We started out by snorkeling in the area by the dock, to make sure everyone was comfortable. We then moved to a patch reef further out, and we saw a lot of cool organisms, including some Christmas tree worms, huge brain coral, a corallimorph, some lionfish, and some lobsters. And even more exciting than that-lots of white scroll algae (padina jamaicensis) and sargassum (I did not identify it, but it sure was floating)!  Afterwards we came back to the wet lab and constructed quadrats- 3×3 foot pvc pipe frames with strings woven across to form crosshairs. We will be using the quadrats to measure stuff in the field, starting tomorrow.

After lunch we had a vote-either to return to the patch reefs we had gone to this morning, or go to a new area, through the Mangroves of Death (MOD). The professor’s kids (who are along for the ride, I don’t know if I mentioned that) provided a very convincing argument, including the threat of crabs in our rooms if we did not choose the new area. So a landslide vote was probably expected, even considering the risks. We suited up in our snorkeling gear, including our masks, and then ran through the mangrove forest to the reef. At first it was fine, but then we began to feel the pinches of the mosquitoes biting through the dive skin. We had been descended upon by the mosquitoes of the MOD! We ran faster until we finally made it into the water. Not one person was left unbitten.

We then had an enjoyable experience in the patch reef, looking for the organisms or interactions listed on our scavenger hunt pages. Some notable things we saw were a sea urchin and many species of colorful fish.

When we were done, we were presented with the option of either running back through the MOD, or snorkeling. The choice was obvious. While snorkeling back, we saw many orange sponges, some anemones, a yellow ray, and a shark among the sea grass! All around, snorkeling back was the right choice.

We then listened to our classmates present their topics and taxa, and then we split for the night.

Overall, the patch reefs had so much to offer, and I’m looking forward to exploring them more! Also tune in tomorrow, I heard we’re going somewhere deemed “Un-Belizeable!”

-Elena

ps. happy birthday Hugh!!

pps. sorry for the bad photo quality-I can’t easily download the pictures from the digital camera to my computer :'(

picture one is part of the group, picture two is the shark, picture three is y-branched algae (dictyota cyliolata), picture four is white scroll algae (padina jamaicensis) and an unidentified brown algae, and picture five is the kids and their hermit crab empire (under each coconut shell is a hermit crab)!

2022

Day 2: Mosquito Magnet

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Today started off early with a yummy banana pancake breakfast and then our first snorkel excursion at 8am. We finally got to break out all of our fancy TFB gear (snorkels, masks, fins, diving skins) and use them! To get off of the dock and into the water, I just sat down and shimmied off, directly into a school of small fish. We then swam over some sea grass to a path reef and I was able to see sooo many organisms. There was Brain Coral, Common Sea Fans, Corky Sea Fingers, also lobsters, French Angel Fish, Lion Fish (!!), and an anemone! Apparently we might go out and hunt for Lion Fish since they are invasive and have them for a meal. I also was able to spot a piece of Laurencia spp. floating in the water and a lot of Spryidia filaments on the rocks. I’ll spare you from my extremely blurry photos but I’ll get the hang of this camera soon.

After we got back on land we made one of our field tools called a Quadrate which we will use as a measuring device to collect data. Then after lunch, we headed back into the water but this time through the Mangroves of Death (cue dramatic music). Where does this name come from you ask? The mosquitos. We literally had to run for a few minutes to try to dodge as many mosquitos as we can in order to go through the mangroves. It was totally worth it though. We made it to the shoreline and had to “stingray shuffle” through the seagrass because it’s their favorite habitat and you want to avoid surprising them. At these patch reefs I saw Yellow Snapper, baby Blue Tang (which look just like yellow surgeon fish), Royal Gramma (shout out to my dad’s fish tank), damselfish, a sea urchin (super cool), and similar coral as the patch reef from earlier in the day.

We chose to swim back in order to avoid the MOD once again, and saw even more cool things – sharks, sponges, and stingrays (oh my!). It was actually very nice to have more time in the water and watching the sea grass was quite meditative.

For the rest of the day we had taxon briefing and a topic lecture which will all help with more identification tomorrow!

-Sophia

Belize Babe’s (incomplete) selfie! I am determined to get a full one tomorrow.
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First Day of Snorkeling: The Mangroves of Madness

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Today was our first day snorkeling out on the reef! We started the day by getting our fins wet in the patch reefs right near the dock  in front of the station. This was so exciting, we got to see the reef in person, and start to identify some of its organisms.

After this initial excursion, we decided to see more patch reefs through a different access point on the island which led us through a mangrove landscape. Mangroves are very cool, the trees have such strong and graceful looking root structures, but getting through this area was miserable because they are host to hordes of mosquitos! We quite literally ran to get in the water to keep them from swarming us, and none of us left unscathed.

But once we were out in the water, we saw so many cool things! It was really interesting to see the diversity of 3D coral structures that can be visible from even a small little patch. Some organisms of note include  a sea cucumber, conch shells, and I even spotted a small shark in the seagrass! Unfortunately, I still have yet to see any jellyfish or ctenophores, but I am still hopeful that we will see some when when we get into deeper waters.

2022

Mosquitoes: ♾, TFBs: k/o

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Today we went into the water! Swimming felt so nice, especially with the humidity down here.

For breakfast, the pancakes had banana in them!! 😋

First, we went to the patch reefs near the dock, where I found 4 queen conch shells. It seems to me like these are the most obvious molluscs present at the reef, especially since they tend to be large, had a very definite crown, and a pink lip! (I learned today that they’re called queen conchs due to their spiral looking like a crown!) We were in the water for about an hour, just getting a feel for what it’s like to snorkel in the ocean. I got So. Much. Water. In. My. Mouth.

So after we got back, we had some time to rest, then we put some equipment together that we’ll need in the coming days. Lunch consisted of some chicken wings with BBQ sauce, fries, and coleslaw. The food here is so good.

We then “voted” (really well we’re coerced by amazing speeches of Caio and Nyala) to take a trek through the mangroves of death. NEVER AGAIN. Imagine you are wearing a long sleeve shirt with a yellow sleeve. Your sleeve is now black. It is covered with mosquitos. It may as well be made of mosquitos. You try to run. They smell your fear. They know they have won. They take no mercy. They swarm. You try to jump into the water to escape them. It’s too shallow to dive under, your effort is futile. You accept your death and continue on, knowing that they are the rulers of this island.

 

Ok, but once we were in the water for the second time, with clipboards and cameras, we tried to do a scavenger hunt with varying levels of success (I kind of forgot to write things down, the waves kept pushing me over).  We saw a sea cucumber! It was quite large! (See picture)

 

once we got back to land, 2 people (Ava and Rusty) presented their taxon lectures. We broke for about an hour, and then had dinner. The cheesecake was so good! Then we finished the day with 3 more lectures (1 topic, 2 taxa) (Maegan, Phoenix, and Michael).

 

good day over all. The aliens in Lilo & Stitch were wrong. The mosquito population is thriving. They are the apex predator.

 

2022

Day 2: First Day in the Water

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Today was a day of adventure, discovery, and a consistent struggle to not touch anything. Today we went snorkeling, which for me, was my first experience snorkeling a reef that was teeming with life. We started by searching around some of the patch reefs, which are just off the dock of the island. The variety and density of life on small rock structures was stunning to see. The reefs are teeming with a variety of Porites and various brain corals. I must say, despite reviewing a multitude of textbook photos, the confidence I had regarding identification may have been a bit too high haha, but I hope to improve that in the next few days. It was also interesting to see real examples of the diseases I studied that impact corals. Thankfully I didn’t see many active lesions, yet there was significant evidence of coral deterioration from past insults of infection. We did encounter a very large Orbicella, which has a massive new lesion, maybe due to white plague.

After an hour in the ocean, we returned to land for a tasty lunch, and a group session of scientific arts and crafts, which was weaving string to form a device to help us measure “things” in the water. I’m still not quite sure what its application will be, the water is an unfamiliar environment for my desert residing self. I must say I don’t miss much about home as of yet, the island is simply too exciting for homesickness, yet I do miss the lack of humidity. But I must say, a damp towel and a wet swimsuit are well worth the experience. Especially the honor to hold a donkey dung sea cucumber.

We later explored a second patch of reefs, closer to the barrier of the atoll. Between the current and my clumsiness, trying to avoid bumping into the reef structures was surprisingly difficult. Many of the same corals were present from what I saw this morning, but exploring the new area was fun. We swam a longish distance back to shore, in order to avoid the ravenous swarm of mosquitoes that lurk in the mangroves. A scenic swim back through the seagrass beds was a nice way to conclude snorkeling for the day. Comfortable may not be the way I describe myself snorkeling as of yet, but excited definitely is. I look forward to seeing what else the Glover’s Reefs hold and am very glad to have this opportunity.

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First Reef Day!

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Hey y’all, It’s Michiel again : )

Today was so much fun! This morning was absolutely beautiful and I loved looking out over the island during breakfast. Just after breakfast, we saw an iguana. It was very pretty and we kept seeing iguanas (or perhaps the same iguana) throughout the day.

After breakfast, we put on our snorkel gear and dove off the dock. The tropical waters were very inviting with how warm they were. We saw huge schools of tiny fish which we could not identify. Once my partner (Ava) and I made it to the patch reefs, we could not get enough of our taxonomic groups. They were telling me all about soft corals and I returned the favor by offering them  facts about herbivorous fish. In this reef, I saw a lot of herbivorous fish, but I didn’t have my taxon ID sheet so I was only able to identify a few. We definitely saw a lot of Threespot Damselfish (Stegastes planifrons) and Cocoa Damselfish (Stegastes variabilis), and I believe we may have seen an Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus). I noticed that it’s really hard to get good pictures of a lot of these fish because they hide as you approach, so I stayed a good distance from them and zoomed my camera in as much as I could.

Once we got into the water, we went to the wet lab to make quadrats and set up a scavenger hunt. Soon after this, we decided to explore the reef near a different part of the island, but to access that area we had to go through the Mangroves of Death (MOD), which were filled with mosquitos that chased us and bit through our lycra dive skins as we ran through the forest. Finally finding safe haven within the water, Ava and I went off again to look at more soft corals and herbivorous fish. While there, I saw many Sergeant Majors (Abudefduf saxatilis) and Beaugregories (Stegastes leucostictus). We also saw a lot of competition between corals, and we saw two stingrays! Ava and I were very grateful that we had decided to swim over the seagrass instead of walk through it when we saw those.

Sergeant Majors (Abudefduf saxatilis)
Stingray hidden in seagrass

After this second reef excursion, we had wonderful presentations given by Rusty, Ava, Maegan, Phoenix, and Michael who presented on hard corals, soft corals, coral reef framework, ctenophores and jellyfish, and sponges respectively. Now, the day is over and I am posting this blog before getting some rest.

Also, I’ve included a group photo of some of other TFBs and I hanging out in the wet lab! See you guys soon!